Wellington venues given post-earthquake all clear

Following the earthquake that hit New Zealand's capital on Sunday, Wellington City Council has completed checks on all of the venues in the Positively Wellington Venues portfolio, with all the buildings now cleared for public use.

As a result, Wellington Town Hall, Michael Fowler Centre, TSB Bank Arena, St James Theatre and the Opera House are all fully operable with all events going ahead as planned.

A statement from Positively Wellington Venues (PWV) explained "we are pleased to confirm that Wellington City Council's consultant engineers along with their property team and different service providers, including Schindler's Lifts and Wormald Security have completed checks of all of the venues in the Positively Wellington Venues stable.

"Our venues withstood the earthquake(s) well and have all been cleared for public use."

The statement added that "there was no damage at the NZ Academy of Fine Arts", and ended "we are also pleased to report that the construction work at Shed 6 has not been impeded by recent events and that the underlying wharf structure performed as it should now that it has been seismically strengthened."

PWV has also reported on its second full year of trading as a Council Controlled Trading Organisation (CCTO), reporting that is achieved a result "well ahead of the breakeven result that was budgeted for."

PWV Chief Executive Glenys Coughlan says the final result was "hard won and well deserved", adding "delivering a surplus of $69,000 in this financial year is a great outcome particularly when an earlier reforecast anticipated a loss and the trading environment is hardly what one would describe as buoyant.

"This business carries a high level of commercial risk people don't have to host conferences or events and they don't need to attend shows. While ticket sales across all our venues have been strong, peoples' discretionary dollars are still stretched, so we take nothing for granted."

PWV Chairman Chris Parkin says that after just two years as a trading organisation, to achieve a turnaround from a cost to Council of more than $1 million per year to a profit of $69,000 and a positive cashflow of $280,000 is a credit to the staff and Board.

Parkin added "on top of that, the fact that we provide a level of support worth close to $2 million a year to many of the city's signature events speaks volumes about the credibility of the organisation.

"I'm confident that given five years we can deliver something upwards of $1 million a year to the city. This performance gives complete credibility to Council's faith in the arm's length Governance arrangements of the CCTO type business structure."

For more information go to www.pwv.co.nz/about-us/emergency-management/

Image: Michael Fowler Arena. 

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